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Hello,Iâ€™ve bought books of Î‘lfredâ€™s Adult Piano course Level 1,2,3 but without CDs. Unfortunately here in Greece these books are sold without the CD. Is it possible for you to find a way to give me these Cds, for example by uploading them to the site rapidshare.com?

The last 10-15 pages of book #1 are tougher than I thought, with different fingerings than Im used to with the C, middle C, and G positions. This really throws me off, and forces me to think about each note again. So, book two will have to remain on the shelf for awhile.

have you trained yourself on reading by intervals? if not you might want to look into it not to undermine or discontinue reading notes (I learned to read notes first then intervals). If you learn to read by intervals you'll see that playing in any key will become easier.

once you get through book one you'll find book 2 to be very easy (well so far). I think book one builds a stronger foundation than you think and you should be pleasantly surprised when you get into book 2.

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Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.>>> Herman Munster

Loly, I havent learned to play by intervals other than the interval lessons in Alfreds, BUT, I cheat using intervals all the time! Or at least I thought it was cheating until you mentioned reading by intervals. Now Im curious. Heres what I sometimes do; With right hand, thumb on D, going from E to G with fingers 2and 4, sometime it will click in my brain as a third and I will skip a key as opposed to thinking 4th finger G. Like two different paths to the same note. Now, if you think a different approach reading by intervale wouldnt hurt my alfreds progress I'd love to see how it works.

If you're hitting the notes with the correct finger without identifying the notes as being e or g then you're playing by intervals.

you're on the right track it takes practice. by the time you're done with book one you'll be doing it without even thinking.

If you can read notes then concentrate on intervals from now on. My teacher stressed it almost every lesson until I started just doing intervals once I had my initial finger positions I read by intervals unless it was something that was too far up the keyboard.

It's kind of funny because it's true what they say about practicing. After a while you'll be doing things without even thinking and recognizing chords without thinking. One day you'll be sightreading and hit chords correctly without a thought and you'll get such a warm fuzzy feeling.

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Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.>>> Herman Munster

Originally posted by zoso: The last 10-15 pages of book #1 are tougher than I thought, with different fingerings than Im used to with the C, middle C, and G positions. This really throws me off, and forces me to think about each note again. So, book two will have to remain on the shelf for awhile. [/b]

I hear you...it is very slow going late in book one...I'm just staying the course and working hard. Every so often you get a small break through and move ahead...

Are we all on the same page on what book were in? There are three different Alfred,s Basic Adult Piano Course series of books, one I just mentioned, one also entitled Play Piano Now, and an all in one book. I have the Play Piano Now series, spiral bound. I think it might be easier than the all in one book. Not that it really matters I was just wondering who has what and if anyone knows if a certain series would be better than the others.

I thought I'd bump this up. I was rereading this thread and find it funny that I was complaining about a couple of songs that I now have under my belt and now have new problem songs. I guess its the nature of the beast...

Mark, what songs are you working on now? Im going over the last twenty pages and am having trouble with Listen to the Mocking Bird. The end of the song is really cool with the right hand holding sixths and the left playing an arpeggio, sounds great together. Just got to smooth it out.

Originally posted by zoso: Mark, what songs are you working on now? Im going over the last twenty pages and am having trouble with Listen to the Mocking Bird. The end of the song is really cool with the right hand holding sixths and the left playing an arpeggio, sounds great together. Just got to smooth it out. [/b]

The Mexican hat and Solo meo are giving me a hard time. Probably because I just dont like the songs at all...

My goal now is to finish the book by the end of June. I think its doable if I can keep up my practice routine.

Wow, Im almost finished with the first book. Of the two songs left, Cafe' Vienna is just about under my hands but not up to tempo yet. This is one sweet little tune that I plan to memorize. So far the only one Ive memorized is A Gift to be Simple. How are you all doing?

I finished book 1 in September of 2005. I am currently about half way through book 2. This book doesn't get as much attention as it once did because I am taking my Royal Conservatory exams.I think it's a great series for adult beginners.

Hi Bob G, I'm currently working on Linus and Lucy and was interested to see your comment on it. I am having the hardest time getting the tempo right so it actually sounds like Linus and Lucy! I can play the hands separately and it sounds great (I'll take your advice and not try that again), but put them together and it's a disaster. I type 90 wpm so you'd think maybe I would have been able to transfer that skill to the piano, but it never occurred to me to think of a piano as a typewriter. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll try that and see if that helps.Thx!

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Carol**********************"You knew what a frightful girl I was when you married me. I did not deceive you, Sir."

Carol, maybe by now you "have it." If you can play "blow the man down" in the alfred's book, then you can do Linus and Lucy. After the intro(left hand) play with both hands but go extremely slow. The first three note with both hands are pretty much on the same time. Then hit the low C with the pinky, Then hit the EDC with the right hand as a triplet while playing the GC with the left hand. You will hear it. then from there it is all downhill. When you transition to the DAH DAH DAH DUMM , make sure you "cheat" and position your right hand where is goes so you are ready to thump it when moving the left hand over. I know this will help you and look forward to hearing your smile.

Do you guys learn each song to a point it is memorized complete in your mind?

Or do you practice it until you can play just play it well and then move onto the next one?

Because I can't even remember how to play jingle bells now. Well unless I have the sheet music in front. [/b]

I play the songs with the sheet music. Just memorize the technique to play it up to speed. It takes some time to get them up to speed without errors. I do the entire book each day and it keeps the songs fresh as I slowly add more songs from the book...

So how is everyone doing? My teacher has stopped me at Scarborough Fair till we clean up and go over the rest of the book to make sure I didn't miss anything. I just started lessons with her about a month ago.Its amazing the little hints a teacher can make that makes the learning process so much easier.

Many of the songs are starting to fall into place with the daily practice. On the side I'm still working on Moonlight in Dm.